A natural arch, natural bridge, or rock arch is a natural rock formation where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion from the sea, rivers or weathering. Most natural arches are formed from narrow fins and sea stacks composed of sandstone or limestone with steep vertical, cliff faces; the formations become narrower due to erosion over geologic time scales. The softer rock stratum erodes away creating rock shelters, or alcoves, on opposite sides of the formation beneath the harder stratum, or caprock, above it; the alcoves erode further into the formation meeting underneath the harder caprock layer, thus creating an arch. The erosional processes exploit weaknesses in the softer rock layers making cracks larger and removing material more than the caprock; the choice between bridge and arch is somewhat arbitrary. The Natural Arch and Bridge Society identifies a bridge as a subtype of arch, water-formed.

By contrast, the Dictionary of Geological Terms defines a natural bridge as a "natural arch that spans a valley of erosion."The largest natural arch, by a significant margin, is the Xianren Bridge in China, with a span of 122 ± 5 meters. On coasts two different types of arches can form depending on the geology. On discordant coastlines rock types run at 90° to the coast. Wave refraction concentrates the wave energy on the headland, an arch forms when caves break through the headland. Two examples of this type of arch are London Arch—previously known as London Bridge—in Victoria and Neill Island in the Andaman Islands, India; when these arches collapse, they form stacks and stumps. On concordant coastlines rock types run parallel to the coastline, with weak rock such as shale protected by stronger rock such as limestone; the wave action along concordant coastlines breaks through the strong rock and erodes the weak rock quickly. Good examples of this type of arch are the Durdle Door and Stair Hole near Lulworth Cove on Dorset's Jurassic Coast in south England.

When Stair Hole collapses it will form a cove. Weather-eroded arches begin their formation as deep cracks. Erosion occurring within the cracks wears away exposed rock layers and enlarges the surface cracks isolating narrow sandstone walls which are called fins. Alternating frosts and thawing cause crumbling and flaking of the porous sandstone and cut through some of the fins; the resulting holes become weathering. The arches collapse leaving only buttresses that in time will erode. Many weather-eroded arches are found in Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, all located in southern Utah, United States; some natural bridges may look like arches, but they form in the path of streams that wear away and penetrate the rock. Pothole arches form by chemical weathering as water collects in natural depressions and cuts through to the layer below. Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah protects the area surrounding three large natural bridges, all of which were formed by streams running through canyons, the largest of, named Sipapu Bridge with a span of 225 feet.

The Rainbow Bridge National Monument's namesake was formed by flowing water which created the largest known natural bridge in the Western Hemisphere with a span of 234 feet, based on a laser measurement made in 2007. Xianren Bridge known as Fairy Bridge, in Guangxi, China is the world's largest known natural bridge with a span recorded at 400 feet by the Natural Arch and Bridge Society in October 2010, with a precision of ±15 feet. Natural bridges can form from natural limestone caves, where paired sinkholes collapse and a ridge of stone is left standing in between, with the cave passageway connecting from sinkhole to sinkhole. Like all rock formations, natural bridges are subject to continued erosion, will collapse and disappear. One example of this was the double-arched Victorian coastal rock formation, London Bridge, which lost an arch after storms increased erosion. Moon Hill in Yangshuo, Guizhou Province, China, is an example of an arch formed by the remnant of a karst limestone cave. In a few places in the world, natural arches are utilized by humans as transportation bridges with highways or railroads running across them.

In Virginia, US Route 11 traverses Natural Bridge. Two additional natural arch roadways are found in Kentucky; the first, a cave erosion arch made of limestone, is in Carter Caves State Resort Park and has a paved road on top. The second, a weather-eroded sandstone arch with a dirt road on top, is on the edge of Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky; the latter arch is called White's Branch Arch and the road going over it is referred to as the Narrows Road. In Europe, the Romanian village of Ponoarele has a road segment called God's Bridge, 30 m long and 13 m wide, passing over a stone arch 22 m high and 9 m thick; the railroad from Lima, Peru crosses the Rio Yauli on a natural bridge near kilometer 214.2 as it approaches the city of La Oroya. Aloba Arch, Chad Boatswain Bird Island, Ascension Island Bogenfels, Namibia Goedehoop natural rock bridge, South Africa Hole-in-the-Wall, Eastern Cape, South Africa Tassili n'Ajjer and Tadrart Rouge, two mountain ranges with many arches, Algeria Tukuyu natural bridge, Tanzania Wolfberg Arch, Western Cape, South Af

Muriel Audrey Russell, MVO was a BBC Radio journalist, the BBC's first female news reporter, and, in 1944, the first accredited female war reporter. Born in Dublin on 29 June 1906, she became an actress, joined the BBC in 1942 after being discovered by them when interviewed about her wartime work for the National Fire Service, she travelled to mainland Europe just after the D-Day landings and reported from Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway, before returning on health grounds in March 1945. In 1953, Russell gave a live commentary on the Coronation of Elizabeth II, from inside Westminster Abbey, she gave commentary on the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. She appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 29 July 1957. In 1967, she was granted the freedom of the City of London, was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1976, she died of Alzheimer's disease in Woking, Surrey, on 8 August 1989. Her World War II military uniform is in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.

——. A Certain Voice

Secondary education in Taiwan refers to the Taiwanese education system in junior high school and senior high school. Junior high school education is compulsory in Taiwan. Children and youths aged 6 to 15 are required to receive nine years of compulsory education. By law, every pupil who completed his or her primary education must attend a junior high school for at least three years, with exemptions to homeschooling and severe disorder or disabilities. Legal guardians of offenders may be subjected to fines up to NT$300, where penalties may be imposed until offenders return to school; the history of secondary education in Taiwan dates back to the Japanese rule. In 1896, Taiwan's colonial government implemented the policy of Direct Schools System, the first modern schooling system with reference to the Western system in the history of education in Taiwan. Japan made three revisions to the educational policy in Taiwan and made use of education to promote militarism and loyalty to the Empire of Japan.

In August 1945, the Pacific War ended and Taiwan was handed over to the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China. The current secondary education system in Taiwan was formed in 1968, in which the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China implemented nine years of compulsory education to enhance the level of knowledge of Taiwanese. Upon completion of studies in a junior high school, students may opt to pursue further studies or enter workforce. For those pursuing further studies, 2014 graduates could take the Comprehensive Assessment Program or the Special Entrance Examination. Several educational reforms were vastly promoted, which included the extension and normalization of education and independent learning; the calls for extension of years of education started in 1983, came to a consensus in 2003. It was announced in 2011 that the Twelve Years of Basic Education will be implemented three years where education in Taiwan will be extended from nine years to twelve years, while the current promotion system to a senior high school will be abolished.

This causes a fundamental impact on Secondary education in Taiwan. Taiwan uses the Minguo calendar system. A school year consists of two semesters, with the fall semester begins in early September every year and runs through late January or early February; the spring semester ends in early June. Semester breaks last for around two or three weeks surrounding the Spring Festival and Lunar New Year. Statistics on education are according to each academic year, while expenditures according to each fiscal year. In junior high schools, subjects covered including literature, English, technology, social studies, home economics and craft and physical education; the language used in both junior and senior high schools is Mandarin at all levels. However, English classes are mandatory throughout the whole secondary education period. According to the Educational Statistics of the Republic of China, Taiwan has 932 junior high schools in total, 844,884 students and 880 full-time teachers in those schools, as of the 101st academic year.

There has been a steep increase in those numbers since the implementation of nine years of compulsory education, which reflects the growth and changes in the junior high school education in Taiwan. For students, the proportion of the number of students dropped from 93.96% in the 39th academic year to 50.18% in the 98th academic year, showing the change in the educational structure of Taiwan. Another fact worth mentioning is the change in proportion of genders. In the 39th academic year, there were 40,670 boys. However, as of the 101st academic year, the difference in the proportion of boys and girls reduced, where there was 440,711 boys and 404,173 girls; this indicates that under the compulsory education policy and the rise in feminism, the education conditions for girls have improved. In addition to this, the promotion rates of students in junior high schools increased from 51.15% to 99.15% from the 39th to the 101st academic year. In other words in Taiwan every student can be promoted and pursue further studies.

For schools, in the 39th academic year, there were only 66 junior high schools. After the implementation of compulsory education, junior high schools were set up to meet the goal of One Junior High School in Each Township. In the fiscal year of 2009, the total expenditure on education was NT$802.3 billion, 5.83% of the Gross domestic product. As for the aboriginal education, there were 72,652 aboriginal students studying in junior high schools in the 101st academic year; the first five groups in terms of student population are: Amis, Paiwan and Truku. In that academic year, there were a total of 41,525 students; as for overseas Taiwanese, there were 206 students who returned to Taiwan to attend a junior high school in the 98th academic year those residing in Indonesia, followed by the United States. Education in Taiwan K-12 Education Administration Ministry of Education, Republic of China K-12 Educational Administration, Ministry of Education